The Earth’s vegetation expanded over the past decade, despite the
shrinking of the rainforests, as vast woodlands grew back in Russia
and China, according to a new study published in Nature Climate
Change. Global warming would be more rapid if it were not for the
growing mass of world vegetation, say the authors. TheMailOnlinereports that nearly 4 billion
tonnes of carbon have been added to plants above ground in the
decade since 2003. The authors have also written an article for
theConversation.

AP reports that, “in a highly anticipated announcement”, the US
will today offer a “roughly 28%” emissions cut as its so-called
“INDC” (Intended Nationally Determined Contribution) for the Paris
climate summit taking place later this year, according to people
briefed on the White House’s plans. AP sources added that the US
will also assert that its contribution is “both ambitious and
fair”. Today marks the informal deadline for nations to submit
their INDCs to the UN, but, to date, few have done so.
Meanwhile,RTCCreports that Australia “risks
climate credibility” with what analysts are describing as
“coal-friendly” proposals for its INDC. TheGuardianreports the first analysis of
the emissions pledges already made by nations ahead of Paris. The
Health and Environment Alliance report concludes, if emissions were
slashed by around 55%, major economies would boost their
prosperity, employment levels and health
prospects.

In an exclusive, the paper reports that the University of
Buckingham has appointed an anti-windfarm campaigner to set up a
new “energy institute”. The university, which already has links to
the climate-sceptic lobby group, the Global Warming Policy
Foundation, has “raised further concerns about its academic
neutrality by hiring John Constable to head the new
unit”.

The world’s wealthiest nations provided around five times as much
in export subsidies for fossil-fuel technology as for renewable
energy over a decade, according to OECD data seen by Reuters.
Reuters says the OECD figures are “central” to a debate on
targeting funding ahead of the UN climate talks in Paris at the end
of the year.

Cheap oil will do “little to derail” the long-term growth of
renewable power, according to a new report by Citigroup. Oil
generates about 5% of global electricity and doesn’t generally
compete directly with wind and solar power, say Citigroup
researchers. Only 11 countries get more than 20% of their
electricity from oil, mainly in the Middle East and the
Caribbean.

Nearly one million new “green jobs” are expected to be created in
China, the US and the EU by 2030 if the regions stick to their
current pledges to curb global warming, according to the US
Environmental Protection Agency.

Recent warming of the Pacific Ocean may signal that an El Nino
weather event is forming, says the Australian Bureau of
Meteorology. “There is about a 50 percent chance of El Nino
developing in the coming months, which is twice the normal
likelihood,” the bureau added.

Significant quantities of known coal and tar sands reserves will
need to be kept in the ground to avoid the worst climate change
impacts, the former chief of the UK Environment Agency has said.
But Lord Smith, who now chairs a shale gas task force, said that
lower carbon fuels such as gas would need to be extracted and
burned while the world economy moves away from fossil
fuels.

More than seven million homes have poorly insulated lofts and the
rate at which they are being improved has fallen by almost 90 per
cent in two years, according to a report by the consumer watchdog
Which?. The report attributes the decline partly to the failure of
the government’s Green Deal scheme.

The FT examines the prospect for solar energy in the Arab world, a
region that “has been synonymous with oil”. In the coming year,
solar projects generating 1,800MW, worth $2.7bn, are due to be
unveiled in the region, according to a study by the Middle East
Solar Industry Association. This compares with less than 300MW in
2014. Investors and energy experts, reports the paper, say that the
sun “could become an important contributor of
power”.

The chair of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund explains how she is
“proud of the legacy of John D Rockefeller, who built the greatest
fossil fuel enterprise in history”. But the science of climate
change has convinced her of the need for the fund to divest from
fossil fuel investments. “We are convinced that if John D
Rockefeller were alive today, he’d be as visionary about green
energy as once he was about black crude.” In an
accompanyingGuardianarticle, Gerrit Heyns,
co-founder of Osmosis Investment Management, says that fossil fuel
divestment campaign is inherently flawed.

With the INDCs now being submitted by nations ahead of the Paris
summit, the three academics argue that “assessment and review is
arguably the last bastion of the top-down architecture in an
increasingly bottom-up climate regime”. Without it, the
“pledge-and-review system envisaged for the 2015 agreement becomes
only a collection of pledges, with very limited accountability and
no strong incentives for countries to increase their ambition over
time”.

Increasing drought stress in the southwestern United States could
lead to widespread diebacks of aspen forests by the middle of the
century, according to a new study. Researchers investigated the
2000-2003 drought in the American southwest that triggered a
widespread die-off of forests. Their findings show how drought
causes damage to the vascular system that transports water
throughout the tree. Model simulations show that this damage will
be widespread by the 2050s, the researchers say.

A new study uses ice core data to show a long-known positive
feedback in the Earth’s climate system. Analysis of the 400,000
year record shows global temperatures amplify a rise in atmospheric
greenhouse gas concentrations, and that this cause-and-effect works
both ways. This means that as global temperatures rise from manmade
climate change, the positive feedback in the Earth’s system results
in additional warming, the researchers say.

Analysis of 20 years of satellite data reveals the amount of
carbon stored by vegetation globally has increased by almost 4
billion tonnes since 2003. This is despite ongoing large-scale
deforestation in the tropics, the researchers say. The study finds
three main reasons for the increase: greater rainfall causing
vegetation growth on savannahs in Australia, Africa and South
America, regrowth of forests on abandoned farmland in Russia and
former Soviet republics, and tree planting projects in
China.

A newly-constructed 2,200 year record of flooding in Australia
shows how tropical cyclones are linked to cycles of El Niño.
Scientists created the record from cave stalagmites, formed as
water and mud drips onto cave floors and crystallises over
thousands of years. The findings show that extreme rainfall and
flooding were more frequent during La Niña events, and less
frequent during El Niños.